I got my way, but I'm bothered enought to post

[Food Lady]

Maybe the suckiness lies in the policy. I bought a bag of clementines the other day at the grocery. They are always stacked up in the same place, under a sign stating they are clementines, and this brand is known for developing them. I got them home and ate one and it tasted really weird. I looked at the tag, which read mandarins. Now, I would've just kept them, but they were so tart as to be inedible to me, and wasting even $5 is not in my slim food budget. So I found the receipt, which by the way, lists them as clementines, and took them back. It's been a couple of days, but the last time I went in the cashier said they could only take stuff back during the day, so I made a separate trip today. The lady at the service counter was nice, but confused. I mean, mandarins look exactly like clems, but they are a different fruit, and when she asked what the difference was, I explained that. I didn't get what I paid for.
When the manager came over to approve it she was first concerned it had been a couple of days, even though I had the receipt, the net bag, and the tag. And I did admit I had eaten a couple before I realized they weren't just funny-tasting clems. Then she told me that they normally didn't return perishables, but she would do it. I got my money back, but I was a bit miffed because
a) I felt like she thought I was doing something shady
b) I paid for something I didn't get
c) A couple of weeks ago at my job I was the service desk person and got the exact same situation, same brand (what is up with that company?), and I happily refunded the couple. I apologized to them and thanked them for coming back to the store and alerting us to the problem so we could fix it. (The bar code was tied to clementines in our store, too, yet they were mandarins.) I didn't make them feel like scammers.

What do you all think?

[Chromatix]

It sounds like a screwup at the supply end - much like the horsemeat labelled as beef in Europe right now (although that one is more serious because someone's probably been pulling fraud). It's important that the supplier is informed of the problem and if they prove unable to correct it reliably, fired.

[PepperElf]

so what if you did wait 2 days. not everyone eats something they buy right away, even fruit.

what if you were allergic to the item they sold, but not the one you thought you'd paid for?

[Sundassa]

I think, that the brand is labeling it right, Clementines are a TYPE of Mandarin. So it is logical that they would put Mandarin on their labels, because it is the parent type of Orange. Maybe you just got a sour batch? I have had that happen even when the label said Clementine.

I've checked many sites for confirmation of this, and they all say the same thing. Here's one:

http://postharvest.ucdavis.edu/libra...uid=159&ds=267

It's kinda like a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't always a square. Or a wolf is a canine, but a canine isn't always a wolf... A clementine IS a mandarin, but a mandarin isn't always a clementine. That's really the only difference there is.

[AmbrosiaWriter]

Honestly, if I was the owner of the store and someone came in with the receipt, and explained how they were not the fruit they rang up as I would gladly give a refund. I would then turn around and lay into my vendor for supplying me with the incorrect fruit while labeling it the correct fruit.

Well, maybe not lay into... but have a serious talk to about (because it might not be the vendor but someone else further along in the food chain.)

Seriously, who would buy a crate of clementines, switch them all out for tangerines (which it sounds like you got), and then try and get a refund? There wouldn't be a point o.O.

[BlaqueKatt]

Mandarin and clementines are different names for the same fruit.

all Clementines are mandarins, but not all mandarins are clementines(there are 5 different types of mandarin oranges-clementine is one variety).

[ThirdGenRetail]

All this is making me think of is "All plaids are tartans, but not all tartans are plaid"... Or was it all tartans are plaid, but not all plaid is tartan? .... Whoops, I mixed that up...

[Food Lady]

Oooooh.....duh. I was under the impression clementines were a hybrid of mandarins and tangerines, or something else. That's weird, because they are supposed to be seedless, and my customers found seeds in their bag labelled "mandarins". Well, at least this brand markets them as seedless. I don't know if all mandarins are supposed to be seedless. I'm confused. I'll be switching to a different fruit now....

Oh, I just noticed the clementine article mentions them being grown in my hometown about 100 years ago. Cool. That's also where the first navel orange tree was grafted/developed in the states. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=103250589

[Lace Neil Singer]

I think it's fair enough, as long as you weren't being an SC. I once bought an antipespirant that was supposed to come up when you screwed the base; it didn't. It cost a pound, and some people would have gone, "Ah fuckit" and not bothered. But I needed a working antipespirant and so I brought it back for a replacement.

[lilo]

If this had happened to me, I'd have definitely taken them back too - I hate mandarins but love clementines. They're hard to get over here though - I gorged myself on them when I lived in Italy, but they're not commonly sold in Australia. I miss blood oranges too.

[Food Lady]

I've only ever seen blood oranges in the store one time in my whole life. They were the best citrus fruit I have ever had. No idea where to get them again.

[bainsidhe]

Glad you at least got your refund. I don't care for clementines, because I find them too tart for my taste. Someone mentioned they may have been tangerines instead, which is possible. Now I don't even bother with them, although my coworkers seem to love them.

[Peppergirl]

That would have pissed me off, too. It's not like you ate ALL or even most of them, for Gods sake.

I got the stink eye at Kroger, once. I had gotten a can of ant spray, and the trigger was defective. Of course I kept dicking with it and at least a quarter of th can was gone from running out and me messing w it to try to get it to work.

I returned it to Kroger and just asked for a working can and the worker took it grudgingly and she and a co worker whispered in the corner about it, gesturing w the can and shaking it around, clearly referring to the lighter weight.

I was pretty offended at the assumption I was trying to scam a damned can of ant spray. I didn't even want my money back, for gods sake. Just a working can.

In hindsight, I really should have complained. I was perfectly polite throughout and I explained thoroughly.

[wolfie]

I've only ever seen blood oranges in the store one time in my whole life. They were the best citrus fruit I have ever had. No idea where to get them again.

I've seen blood oranges sold under the name "Moro" - you might want to be on the lookout for that name too. Also, it's my understanding that blood oranges are seasonal. Unlike more common varieties grown in a number of locations (therefore ripening at different times) and kept in storage (extending availability), blood oranges tend to be available only from January to March (at least around here).

[Food Lady]

Are they grown in the states? I thought maybe I couldn't find them because they were imported from Italy. I'm in Wisconsin, where it's hard to find exotic fruits, unless you're in Milwaukee or some other major city. It really was strange to find them that one time. Maybe I will ask the produce manager at the store.